epa04255734 A handout picture released by the Italian Coast Guard shows a boat carrying 281 refugees, at sea off the coast of Calabria Region, Italy, 14 June 2014. Nearly 300 migrants who said they were refugees from Syria have been rescued off the Italian coast, officials. The coast guard said two patrol boats and a a tax police vessel picked up 281 people from a 20-metre fishing boat some 150 kilometres away from the coast of Calabria, the region that forms the tip of Italy's boot. The migrants were spotted in the Mediterranean between Greece and Italy. Among the rescued passengers were 93 children and six women, some of who were in a precarious medical condition, the coast guard said. EPA/ITALIAN COASTGUARD / HANDOUT HANDOUT EDITORIAL USE ONLY/NO SALES/NO ARCHIVES